Ivory Bank clients are struggling to access their own money across South Sudan
Bank of South Sudan (BOSS) Headquarters in Juba, South Sudan
By Hon. Eng. Charles Barnaba Kisanga | Juba, South Sudan
Wednesday, 28 May 2025 (PW) — At the Ivory Bank Main Branch in Juba, the slogan proudly reads: “We Make Your Business Grow Very Fast.” Yet, for thousands of frustrated customers across the country, the bitter truth is this: “Ivory Bank Will Destroy Your Business.”
Across South Sudan, clients of Ivory Bank are lining up in despair, struggling to access their own money. From businesspeople to civil servants, to parents trying to pay school fees and patients desperate for medical care, the message is always the same: “No cash.”
People who deposited millions of South Sudanese Pounds, often in high-denomination notes, are being rationed a mere SSP 100,000 per day, and even that is issued in nearly worthless SSP 20 notes. One customer was overheard saying, “You need a sack just to carry the money out!”
At the Juba Main Branch, the situation has turned dire. Each day, the bank lobby resembles a hospital waiting room. Sick and elderly customers come hoping to withdraw money for urgent medical expenses, only to be told yet again, “No liquidity.” On one recent day, the manager allowed only SSP 200,000 withdrawals per customer, again in SSP 20 notes, further compounding the hardship for people already in desperate need.
The irony is painful: these customers are not asking for loans or favors, they are begging for access to their own hard-earned money.
In Yambio, dozens of schools are unable to pay their teachers. Parents paid registration and tuition fees into Ivory Bank accounts at the start of the school year, but when school administrators tried to withdraw funds, they were told: “No cash.” Since February 2025, civil servants in Western Equatoria State have also gone unpaid, despite official statements from the Ministry of Finance claiming their salaries were deposited into Ivory Bank. According to bank staff, the Central Bank never transferred actual cash to back the payments, so the “salaries” exist only as meaningless digital entries.
Given this financial chaos, many civil servants were stunned when the Ministry of Finance recently directed public workers to open new bank accounts for salary payments. The question is: Why mandate payments through banks that cannot provide cash?
This crisis exposes a harsh truth: our commercial banks, backed and regulated by the Central Bank, are crippling our economy, bankrupting small businesses, and contributing to needless deaths by withholding access to lifesaving funds. Some bank staff even claim that deposited funds were borrowed by the Central Bank and used elsewhere, leaving the banks without liquidity.
It is time for decisive action.
The government should order non-performing banks to shut down and appoint liquidators so that people may at least recover a portion of their deposits. Banks exist to empower people, not to trap their money and shatter their lives. If commercial banks cannot fulfill their basic obligations, they are no different from scammers, tricking citizens to part with their money, never to see it again.
This is a grave and shameful situation. The Central Bank must be held accountable. It must act immediately and decisively if it truly cares about the financial well-being and stability of South Sudan.
Hon. Eng. Charles Barnaba Kisanga
Juba, South Sudan
If you want to submit an opinion article, commentary, or news analysis, please email it to the editor: info@paanluelwel.com or paanluel2011@gmail.com. PaanLuel Wël Media (PW) website does reserve the right to edit or reject material before publication. Please include your full name, a short biography, email address, city, and the country you are writing from.
About Post Author
